Tim Dellor column: How long can Reading's 'Tuesday Team' avoid the 'Snakes' on the board?
- Published
Reading FC currently sit 18th in the League One table with one win and two losses
A win, followed by a point deducted. Three forward and one back.
So begins Reading's league campaign, which resembles a game of Snakes and Ladders.
Fans are used to this. The latest punishment from the EFL completed a hat-trick. Reading have now had points deducted in three consecutive seasons. History, and the ominous wording of the EFL statement, suggests the club will land on more snake squares before the end of the season, but let's focus on the ladder squares, for now at least.
The best outing of the opening couple of weeks of the season came at the least likely moment. A first-round Carabao Cup game at The Den on a Tuesday night in early August would not normally set the pulse racing. Two much-changed young teams and the visitors are narrowly defeated, head home and concentrate fully on the upcoming Saturday's league fixture.
Not this time. It was a Eureka moment for Reading FC. A team with an average age of just over 20 dismantled a largely unchanged Championship side, looking fearless, energetic and joyful. Nelson Abby, 19, and Tyler Bindon, 18, were supreme at the back. Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan, 20, and Caylon Vickers, 18, created mayhem up front. All across the pitch it was youngsters having the time of their lives. A 4-0 win did not flatter Reading.
It was a difficult selection dilemma for manager Ruben Selles, travelling to Port Vale four days later. He reverted to the tried and tested, more experienced team. It proved to be the wrong call, and Reading were beaten 1-0.
Three days later it was back to "The Tuesday Team". Abbey, Bindon, Ehibhatiomhan and Vickers were all given permission by their mum's and dad's to stay out past their bedtime and they beat Cheltenham 1-0. Again, there was the energetic pressing, the high tempo, and the pace all over the pitch.
"The Tuesday Team" is the brightest hope
You have to feel for the experienced players. Like battle weary troops, they need R and R. They have been ground down during a sequence of 15 winless games (a new club record), a couple of managerial changes, relegation, points deductions, late wage payments and a whole raft of other issues out of their control. Mentally they look drained, which is hardly surprising.
They are good players, who if skilfully managed will still make important contributions to this season. Don't write off Andy Carroll, Andy Yiadom, Sam Hutchinson, Tom Holmes, Tom McIntyre and the others, who need to be taken out the firing line for now. If they can be drip-fed back into a winning team intelligently over the next few weeks, they and the club will reap the rewards in the longer term.
It is too much to expect the youngsters to perform consistently twice a week. They will have off days. For now though "The Tuesday Team" is the brightest hope. They have surprised and entertained, and their performances may just keep Reading on the straight and narrow for the next few weeks.
Meanwhile, the senior players need to recover from the last few months of trauma and the management, staff and owner need to gets things back on track behind the scenes.
Avoid the snakes, land on as many ladders as possible, make progress across the board. Keep on rolling the dice and hope for the best. At a club as chaotic as Reading it is all everyone can do.
